I own a Brown & Sharpe dial caliper. Very nice, claimed accuracy is .001 in. Stays in the nice wood box.

scott s.
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I have a Mitutoyo that I bought over a decade ago. probably the best there is, but also overkill for bike work. I also have a cheapo one I bought at Princess Auto, which is sort of the Canadian equivalent of Harbor Freight, and it compares dead on with the Mitutoyo, so I would say go with the cheapie.

The problem with cheap digital calipers is not usually the accuracy, it is the poor battery life.
Digital calipers are "always on" even when not in use, and cheap calipers draw a lot more power during this time and run the batteries down faster.

Using any caliper with a low battery will cause accuracy issues. They all have cutoff circuits to try to prevent using them completely when the battery is too low, but (not too surprisingly) the expensive calipers work better at that than the cheap ones, too. So basically--the cheap digital calipers run the batteries down faster, and let you keep using them on low batteries when they shouldn't.

(there was a youtube video where a guy showed this issue but I can't find it at the moment--he compares the current draw of a mitutoyo with a few cheap calipers, and the cheap calipers use nearly five times the idle power that the mitutoyo does)
Fliptronics: Some information on battery life and accuracy of Electronic Digital Calipers

There is three choices:
1) get a vernier caliper, if you want one caliper that reads both Imperial and metric ($10 for generic Chinese, reads down to 1/50mm and 1/1000 inch)
2) get cheap dial calipers, either Imperial or metric or both (one won't measure both, and they cost $15 - $20 each for generic Chinese)
3) get an expensive digital (~$100+ for name-brands)

In a typical home/hobby use situation--if you buy either (#1) or (#2) and keep them reasonably clean, you will easily get decades of use out of the things. The biggest danger is dropping them or bending them.
I have machine tools at home as a hobby; I use cheap China dial calipers for that and haven't had any problems with the accuracy of any of them.

The cheapest "good" digital IMO is the Mitutoyo 700-113-10, that costs around $90 online. This is Mitutoyo's low-end product.
The 'standard' caliper from Mitutoyo is the 500-196-30, that costs around $120 online.

My HF digital caliper has worked well for me. I also bought the plastic model for $1, which is good enough if you only need to measure within a mm.

I haven't had to replace the battery in the 5 years I've owned it. Other than turn it off when I'm finished I take no precautions.

In a previous version of someone's post he wrote that batteries were so expensive he threw his away when the battery ran out. I found a supplier, azbatteryman, on eBay, who sells them for about $1.65 for 10, ship from the US. I bought some even cheaper from China but they were all no good. Considering postage was $0.65 he must be getting them for a penny.

any suggestion for newbies?

1) don't dredge up old threads. Tech gets dated, many respondents to threads not active any more, many times not really as material to new conversation.

2) I got these for about thirty bucks including shipping a few years ago OriginCal Caliper. You have to scour ebay, amazon and elsewhere to find the best deal. I tried a couple of the Harbour Freight and took them back as they felt like they were full of grit when you moved them. Their LCD didn't seem as crisp and readable from angles and poor lighting also.

I'm very happy with the OriginCal's as they are pretty much a knock-off of the Mitutoyu calipers I used when working as a machinist. They don't auto-off.....just like the Mitutoyo's they copied, but the battery drain isn't much even if you forget. The only annoyance I and some others have is that if you don't get the rubber seal under the battery lid correctly placed, the lid flips off easily.

I suffered with a digital HF and had to put in new batteries nearly every time I wanted to use it. The cover on battery compartment popped out if I did not put the caliper down gently. The values came out differently when I measured at different times in cases I needed a high accuracy. Then I bought a Mitutoyo and wondered why I waited so long and why I wasted the money on HF.

Lol didn't you read thru the thread?

I'm using a Dura-cal ip67 Digi now. Some cheapie.

Basically get a 0-6" (0-150mm) digital caliper. Digital because it will easily read in mm or inches. For a bike the resolution of .001" is overkill but most come standard like that. Make sure you can turn it off. Go cheap. Well maybe not harbor freight cheap, but don't spend $70 either.

This^^^^EXACTLY. I make my living with my calipers and mics-I'm a tooling machinist. The HF tools are not for making a living but are certainly close enough for your bike measurements.
Jon

I've never had a problem with the HF version. As long as you store it in the case and turn it off, battery life is good. If it is left unprotected in the tool box, its easy to bang against it and run battery down.

I had one that died after four years of use. Took it back to HF and they replaced it, no charge.


While I avoid a lot of the cheap tools at Harbor Freight, the digital caliper is one I use and recommend.

As far as super accuracy, the stuff I measure on bikes doesn't have to be perfect: crown race, ball bearing sizes, seat post sizes, those are probably the most common things I measure.

Thanks for your suggestion Mate.

I should tell this to my batteries that did not know that they should not get drained. Ah, the case! It is held together with a duct tape as it fell apart after a short use. No, it was never left aside in a pile of tools. Mitutoyo, treated exactly in the same manner, maybe had one battery change since it was bought while HF consumed sheets in a comparable time. In my book, the tools are for solving problems, not for producing problems of their own.

I like the fact that the digital calipers can be switched from inch to metric (and some to fractional inches) with the push of a button. That allows me to quickly make the conversion without resorting to doing the math with a calculator or pencil and paper.


Do yourself a favor and buy a multipack of those button-cell batteries in a quality brand. They last longer and you'll always have spares.

All my measuring tools drain a bit when unused. I end up taking the battery out after use.
I don't hafe HF cheapo tools, but not pro-shop quality either. In a pro-shop you may not notice drain since you use them often. But in a home shop you may only need them monthly or less.

At work, we purchased a bunch of Mitutoyo solar calipers. Those are awesome, accurate and never need batteries. They are also expensive.

At home, I use a $12 digital. The battery cover broke. It reads down to 0.001", but, I wouldn't trust it to better that 0.005". For home use, 0.01" accuracy is all you need. If you need better, you're doing real machining. And when I get tired of the battery situation, I'll buy another $12.

Also, when you start getting into <0.005" technique becomes important, even the best Mitutoyo can steer you wrong if you don't know what you're doing.